WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Despite sophomore Alaina Rongos pouring in a career-best 30 points, the Huntington women’s basketball team couldn’t overcome a sluggish second quarter to suffer a 74-66 loss to #23 Indiana Wesleyan (12-3, 6-1) Wednesday night at Luckey Arena.

The 6-0 forward drained six triples, a new career-high, on the way to her banner night which also included pulling down six boards and handing out four dimes. Sam Vaughn tossed in 14 points as the only other Forester to rack up double-figures. She snagged game-high honors in rebounds (7) and steals (4) while topping her team in assists with five.

The bench was also active for HU with Maddy Robrock adding eight points and four rebounds while Emily Seboe and Celeste Ryman each collected six points.

Huntington finished with ten threes on the night to account for nearly half their points. All but five of their 22 field goals were assisted. Culler’s crew also had a solid outing at the charity stripe where they went 12-for-13 for 92.3 percent.

While the Foresters were able to stay within two possessions of their hosts through the opening quarter, the next ten minutes were less than impressive. HU managed just nine points while giving up 22 to take a 44-26 deficit into the locker room.

A chance to reorganize served the visitors well as they came out with renewed energy at both ends of the floor in the third quarter, outscoring IWU 18-7 to pull within seven at 51-44 heading in the final stanza. After a bucket by Robrock at the 7:24 mark trimmed the lead to 58-54, Wesleyan countered with the next seven points to build back a double-digit lead of 11 at 65-54.

Culler’s squads are known for their ability to be down but never out and tonight was no different. The next nine points were all Huntington with Ryman capping off the run with a bomb from downtown for a 65-63 game with 1:06 remaining.

Anne Secrest played spoiler to the potential upset by scoring on the next possession to give IWU a four-point cushion that allowed them to camp out at the free throw line the rest of the evening. As a team, Wesleyan shoots over 80 percent and they lived up to that hype by going 7-for-8 in the final :40 seconds to solidify the win.

Gabby Suarez topped the Wildcats with a career-tying 18 points, 11 or which came in the fourth quarter. Jordan Reid dropped in 12 points and tracked down six rebounds.

With this loss, the Foresters drop to 5-4 overall, 2-3 in league play. HU is back on the road again on Saturday to face Grace at 1:00 p.m.